The Audacity [CRIELLA]

The sudden shot of ice caught the beast off guard. Enough so as to creep up to her and freeze her claws in place. An annoyed screech filled the air as the Dragon immediately began to melt it away with her acid, but by the time she pried herself free, it truly was too late for her. The Beast's eyes widened in shock as Criella's cero oscuras sped towards her before she could even react. There was no dodging this one, The Dragon truly ate this blow.

The impact of powerful, frigid reishi crushed her body and froze her to the very core. It was like being hit with a hundred of herself slamming into her body, damaging even her bones and leaving her scales shredded and torn, but before blood could flow she was frozen over. An explosion of sand and effluvia filled the scene, the Beast letting out a mortified roar as she was frozen in place and left to stand reared back in what had been an initial attempt to flee...

But then it cracked, and melted, and slowly fell apart until the ice turned back to reishi and the Dragon fell to the ground on her side, blood now flowing from her fresh wounds. And yet, The Dragon still breathed.

"I was unaware of such power... I suppose I will have to chase it myself." The Beast admitted with a scratchy chuckle. "But what about you little witch, is the air not hard to breathe?" Surely with the sheer amount of effluvia the Dragon had dispersed in the atmosphere, with plenty of it falling to their level now that time had passed from their battle in the air. The ground was already coated in it and the local area was starting to become fogged in a light grey. "Do your lungs not burn and your skin not rot? Are you simply so invincible as to not feel the decay?"

"Remember this, beast. What is perfect never rots away. What is truth will never crack."

Bravado at its finest, till the very end. However, words are easy to make beautiful. The harsh reality is that she is cracking, melting away like a rotten apple. Her every thought is focused entirely on remaining whole, every section that cracks forced to repair itself. She is the victor, but her body reeks of death. Every word she speaks is a testament to the lies in her head pushing her forward. Blood is frozen in her throat, pain is ignored, and her ice, as whittled as it's become, remains.

"Do not get it wrong, I am a monster, a Hollow at my core. My obsessions have carried me forward, and my power is nothing but my ambition made manifest. If what you seek is power beyond imagination, to make your very thoughts of the world reality, come."

She held out her hand, the icy claws from before melted into but a dainty palm that slowly cracked and withered away.

"Your truth has touched me. Let us turn it perfect and complete."

"Absolutely not."

The words came from her broken, bony maw the moment she saw that hand outstretched in some kind of offer. Whether or not it was real did not matter to the Dragon. She had no intention of falling for traps or taking the help or whatever that was from somebody else. Even if she didn't despise Criella, the rotted monstrosity was not so weak as to need assistance for anything. That was just a pitiful idea.

With a deep, monstrous groan, the Dragon slowly pushed herself back onto her feet. Struggling at first with one claw planted on the sand, the Dragon pulled herself up onto her belly, rolled upright, and then stood up until she was back at her proud fullest. Even with the injuries she had sustained, she was a durable thing. Her end would have come long ago if she was not. But that cero had shattered some bones, shredded her scaly defenses, and caused enough damage for the Dragon to realize she had perhaps played the fight wrong. She could admit at least that much. But outright outmatched?

The Dragon chuckled and flicked her tail, and just like that all the effluvia that had covered the nearby 1 mile radius rapidly converged inwards at Criella's location. From every direction at once it aimed to choke and rot her from the inside out. Her options were limited, but she definitely had them still. Strike the Dragon once more, flee, the beast waited to see the woman's reaction with bated breath.

Criella would have it no other way. Something as unruly as this dragon bowing? If the thing gave in so easily because of pretty words, Criella would have dictated it nothing but another pitiful excuse. However, it rose, it pretended to be strong still, it attacked with futility. That tenacity, perseverance, it's exactly what is required to rule these sands..., or turn them into a true wasteland.

"Come."

Unfortunately, Criella's ambitions pushed her forward, past her limits. Everything under the moon is hers. They just don't realize it yet. But, those that do realize it always heed the call of their Queen. The world was retched open, ghastly wails echoing across the sands as giant creatures clad in black stepped free from their mindless cages to protect their Queen.

The corrosion crashed into their massive bodies and killing them, even as they clawed at it and used their own energy to try and keep it at bay. Criella knew they would not save her, but all she needed was a canvas to paint her masterpiece. She could feel her breath turn cold once more.

"Become perfect for me, Criogénesis~"

Focusing the remaining of herself, her body crumbling as she put both hands on the sands underneath her, ice rose from her position, reaching out like a tidal wave. It crashed into the menos freezing them in place as the effluvia that clung to their body froze over. All around her, walls of ice rose, turning everything in came into contact with into statues, trapping the menos and effluvia in totality. Even if it melted, the clash of energies would surely dilute the dragon's deadly disease.

Criella, though, had reverted back before her Ress, breathing with haggard breaths. Her staff back at her side, she forced herself up, pointing her weapon at the dragon. Despite using everything, blood starting to trinkle down the corner of her lips, she smiled.

"No matter what, beast. You will remain alone, but I control the masses, shape the world as I wish. If you wish to be a solo avenger, then grow stronger so not even the world can come together and stop you. Fail, and I'll lament your foolishness from the seat of my throne."

The Dragon couldn't believe what she was seeing. Menos coming forth to guard their false queen from the impending doom she so very much deserved. It made the beast roar in mind numbing fury. "You fools!!" The beast's rotted voice screeched at them. "There is no fruit for your mindless labor!! This degenerate will gain you nothing!! Begone at once!!" But they did not, and were instead rotted, eaten into nothing but raw particulates, then those very particulates frozen as Criella unleashed yet another attack.

"You are less than meat." The Dragon spat venom under her breath while standing there, grey reishi gathering all around her body in one final counterattack. "I will show you what it means to rot."

Criella's ice would find itself engulfing the Dragon just as a rush of concentrated effluvia burst forth from the winged demon's body. What would have been the Dragon herself becoming frozen instead was an icy orb that was rapidly being degraded from the inside. Not the slow, tedious efforts as before, but an building effort from a rapidly increasing amount of effluvia. It was potentially suicide, but the Dragon was pouring all of her remaining spiritual energies into producing effluvia at such a rapid pace that the Criella's ice wouldn't be able to even reach its target. Instead, the ice that her adversary was trapped it would crack bit by bit as the pressure increased exponentially with each passing second.

A few moments would pass, and Criella would find her own attack turned against her. The pressure built within the ice capsule the Dragon had been trapped in had only served to turn the ball of ice into a gas bomb. All of the built up pressure caused the Beast's effluvial gas to rush forth at high speeds in all directions. The sheer amount of it all was so thick that neither the Dragon, nor Criella would likely be able to see. It was just a rushing wall of rot and decay that enveloped everything in its path. Even should another barrier be put up, there was more of it this time, and so it would work faster to decay at anything in its way. And yet still, if there was some attempt at blowing it away, the Dragon was still producing more at a steady pace. Her reishi turning into effluvia at an alarming pace that would begin to fill a whole mile radius from her with nothing but her rotting power.

What left is there to prove? At this point, their fight borders lunacy, two immovable ideas canceling one another out in an eternal cycle. However, Criella can understand that she has nothing left to offer without reaching into the depths of her reserves.

She does not fancy having to do so.

She can tell that the dragon had prepared something devastating while held prisoner. She could only huff and shake her head. What amazing vindictive vigor, but she had come to realize that this bout would lead into nothingness for them both. She'd rather live another day than play with a beast.

"Hmph. I'll concede this day, but do know that this will not end yet."

She could feel that corrosion becoming something stronger than before, so she opened a rip in reality behind her. She'd promptly step into it, sparring the dragon but a moments glance before smirking. As her portal closed, the dragon would break free, spewing its stench everywhere, but it find her long gone from the area. Well, after its become capable of seeing or sensing her through its own attack.